Rolling eyes for dolls



Sept 10, 1929. A, KQNQFF 1,727,508

ROLLING EYES FOR DOLLS Filed Feb. l, 1926 patented Sept. 10, 19429.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER KONOFF, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 MARKON MANUFACTUR- ING C0. INC., 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., .A CORPORATION OFNE'W7 YORK.

ROLLING EYES FOR DOLLS.

Application led February This invention relates to an improvement in dolls eyes, and particularly in dolls eyes which have a rolling movement as well as an opening and closing movement, such eyes being commonly known in the trade as rolling eyes.

An object of the present invention 1s to provide a pair of eyes which are simple and inexpensive in construction, which may be easily connected with their supporting rod, and which when in use will be capable of performing all of the movements customarily found in so-called rolling eyes.

A further and more detailed object is to provide an improved and simplified means for connecting the eye shells with their sup porting and operating parts, to the end that they may be not only easily assembled but also be capable of adjustment in various ways to enable the proper functioning of the eyes in the dolls head.

A further object is to so construct the eyes that they each com rise a separate and distinct entity capable o being manufacured as such preparatory to being assembled and connected for uniform operation.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles, constituting the invent-ion, and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention Fig. 1 is a rear elevational view of an eye set constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of one of the eye shells, the control piece being omitted.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view, partly in elevation, upon the plane of line III-III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane of line IV-IV of Fig. 1, and

1, 1926. Serial No. 85,153.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view, on a reduced scale, of a modified construction in which the eye shell and its control piece are formed from an integral piece of material.

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structure shown therein, the reference character L indicates the usual bracket member by means of which the eye set is intended to be connected with the inner surface of the forehead portion of a doll in any well known manner.

The reference character G indicates the cross, or supporting, rod, which is rotatably mounted at the lower end of the bracket plate and which carries at its opposite ends the two eyes H-H.

The rod G has fixed thereto a pendant arm l at its central portion said arm being suitably bent and formed so that its end portion as 2 is adapted to abut against an inner surface as 3 of the dolls head i at a proper point to limit rotary movement of the rod G in one direction. This arm is constructed so that it may be bent by a workman when and as required to alter the exact limit' of rotation of the rod G.

The rod G has also fixed thereto a second, and shorter, arm 5, preferably provided as an extension of the same piece of material as constitutes the arm 1. The arm 5 moves within a slot 6 provided in the bracket plate L and is adapted to engage against the upper' end wall 7 of said slot to limit rotary movement of the rod in the direction opposite to the direction limited by the arm 1. The presence of the arm 5 within the slot 6 also serves to hold the rod G against excessive longitudinal movement in the bearings 8 provided upon the bracket plate. The eyes H-H are identical in construction and operation, except that they are made rights and lefts, and a description of one will apply to both, as follows:

The hemispherical shell 9 has a notch 10 in one side thereof through which projects the supporting rod G.

The attaching member 11 is arranged at the rear of the shell 9 and consists of what will be termed a main flat plate portion 12, and a stem portion 13. The main plate portion 12 rov adapted to. telescope over the end of the ,sup-

porting rod, the plateportion being preferably formed with a groove 16 therein so as to provide unobstructed longitudinal movement of the sleeve along the supportingl rod.

The stem or sleeve 13 is formed from sheet i metal bent into tubular shape but the edges are preferably not lixedly connected together. These edges may or may not have engagement with' each other as suggested in my pending application Serial No. 18,627. The sleeve is normally of less internal diameter than the external diameter of the supporting` rod land must therefore be expanded' when being forcedl onto the rod. Y Sufficient friction is thus generated to retain the sleeve in any position to which it is adjusted either longitudinally or rotatably upon the rod` The plate portion 12 is preferably formed as an integral part ofthe same piece of sheet metal comprising the stem 13 and these parts are so formed, and the bearing apertures 15 are so positioned, that said bearing apertures stand'` substantially' in a common vertical plane with the centre of the supporting rod and thespherical centre of the shelll in order that no appreciable bodily displacement of the shell will accompany rotary mo vement of the shell when the shell swings about the vertical axis provided by the pivot parts 14 .4 and 15 or whenthe attaching member is be ing rotatably adjusted about the supporting rod incident to bringing the shell intoa properly adjusted position with respect to the eye openings of a dolls head.

Longitudinal movement of the attaching member 11 along the supporting rod will of course correspondingly move the eye shell along said rod. K

It'will be understood that since both. eye shells are connected with the same supporting rod, bothi of saidv shells will4 rotate in unison during all opening andclosing movements of the eyes.

Fixed to the rear of the eye shell is a member 16a which for convenience is here referred to as a control piece. This member or. piece may be connected with the shell in any. approved or satisfactory mannery and has a tail portion 17 extending away from the shell carrying a weight 18. The tail 17 is extend ed downwardly from the shell andthe weight 18 is arranged adjacent its lower end, from which it will be seen that by moving the doll from an upright to a reclining position the weight will swing fromits normal position as in Fig. 4 backwardly by gravity and thus cause the eye to move from its open to its closed position, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in this art.

In its normal position, as seen in Fig. 4, the weight is held by the arm. 1 against swinging downwardly to a position directly vertically beneath the supporting rod G since in this way the weight will serve more efliciently to` hold the eye steadily in an open position during. the handling ofthe doll in an upright position. Also the arm 1, by always impinging against the same point, as 3, of the dolls head will insure against contact of the tail 17 with any other part of the dolls head especially during the side-wise swinging of said tail, as will now be referred to.

The arm 1, by always holding the weight 18.' at a point at one side, that is rearwardly, ofY the kvertical plane of the supporting rod, and hence rearwardly ofthe axial line of the pivots 14, also enables the weight to perform the added function of a gravity member for causing the shell to rotate or roll about the pivots 14whenever the doll is inclined to the right or the left whether the doll be in a fully upright position orotherwise.

The control piece 16a is formed with a narrow neclr 19, or other suitable means by which it may be readily bent by a Workman in order to; dispose the weight at the most suitable and advantageous position with. re spect to the eye shell and the arm 1.

.The mea-ns illustrated in the drawings for holding the control piece Xed to the eye shellv consists in forming the control piece with a plate portion 2O which extends across the rear side of the shell in surface contact against the upper and lower rear edge portions of the shell as at 21 and 22, and of providing a plurality of tangs as 23 projecting rearwardly from the shell and bent over adjacent portions of the plate 2O so as to hold the plate pressed firmly and immovably against the edge of the eye shell.

The central portion of the plate 2O is bulged backwardly as at 24 so asto accommodate the attaching member 11 and enable the shell to rotate upon the pivots 14.

An edge corner as 25 of the bulge 24, see Fig. 3,.will serve as a stop to engage the stem of the attaching member `for limiting rotary movement of the shell about the pivots 14 in one direction and the bottom wall as 26 of the notch 10 in the shell will engage against the stem to limit rotary movement of the shell in the opposite direction.

Since both eyes are constructed in the same way and each are with an operating weight llO iso

it follows that when they are in positionon the supporting rod G they are'properly balanced with respect to the bracket L and also that any lateral tilting of the doll suflieient tocause a rolling movement of one eye will causea corresponding rollingmovement of the other eye. In order however to-insure against any possible differences in extent or time of the rolling movement oi' one eye with respect to the other it is preferable that thev be connected together and for this purpose the drawing herewith illustrates the presence of a connecting link as 27 which has its opposite ends pivotally connected as at 28 and 29 with the lower end portions of the two control pieces 16". The pivotal connections at 28 and 29 are suiiiciently loose to permit ot all necessary adjustments of the tail parts of the control pieces, or the eyes rotatably or longitudinally along the supporting rod, as well as to permit of unobstructed swinging of the control pieces at all times. The connecting link is preferably made adjustable in length, as by being formed 'with a V- shaped bend 27, since by this means the two eyes may be brought to their proper relative positions rotatively of the pivots la following adjustments toward or away from each other longitudinally along the rod G.

It should be noted that while the attaching member ll, and particularly the plate portion 12 thereof carrying the pivot extensions ll, is normally in a somewhat inclined position with respect to the true vertical, thus rendering the .veight 18 more eiiieient in effecting rolling of the eyes when. the doll is in an upright position, see 4, yet said attaching member and its pivots lll will be, for convenience of description here, understood as providing rotation of the eye shell about a substantially vertical axis as compared with the substantially horizontal axis of the supporting rod G. In 4this way the two distinct movements ot the shell may be better understood and appreciated.

In the modification seen in Fig. 5 the construction and operation is identical with what has already been described except that in this ligure is illustrated an arrangement by which the eye shell and the control piece are formed as a single integral member, preterably of stamped sheet metal, instead of the two separate pieces held together by the tangs as above set forth.

As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as delined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is zl. An eye structure comprising a semispherical eye shell, a supporting rod therefor, an attaching member by which to connect the eye shell with the supporting rod, said attaching member comprising a portion providing pivots by which the eye shell is rotatable on a vertical axis, the attaching member also comprising a stem portion having slidable and rotatable adjustable connection with the supporting rod, and a weight connected with the eye shell operable to rotate the shell by gravity about said Vertical axis.

2. An eye structure comprising a semispherical eye shell, a supporting rod therefor, an attaching member by which to connect the eye shell with the supporting rod, said attaching member comprising a portion providing pivots by which the eye shell is rotatable on a vedtical axis, the attaching member also comprising a stem portion having slidable and rotatable adjustable connection with the supporting rod, and a weight connected with the eye shell operable to rotate the shell by gravity .about said vertical axis, together with means whereby the weight is adjustable with respect to the eye shell.

3. An eye structure comprising a semispherical eye shell, a supporting rod therefor, an attaching member by which to connect the eye shell with the supporting rod, said attaching member comprising a portion providing pivots by which the eye shell is rotatable on a vertical axis, the attaching member also comprising a stem portion having slidable and rotatable adjustable connection with the supporting rod, a tail piece provided upon the eye shell having a weight at the lower end thereof operable to rotate the shell by gravity about said vertical axis, and said tail piece being bendable to thereby adjust said weight with respect to the eye shell.

4l. An eye structure comprising a semispherical eye shell, a supporting rod, means by which the eye shell is connected with the supporting rod providing rotary movement of the shell about an axis transverse to the length of the rod, a member fixed to the shell and extending therefrom carrying a weight by which the shell is gravity controlled to swing about said axis, a part of the shell providing a stop to engage the supporting rod for limiting rotary movement of the shell in one direction, and a part ot said mentioned member providing a stop to limit rotary movement of the shell in the opposite direction.

5. An eye structure comprising a semispherical eye shell, a supporting rod, means by which the eye shell is connected with the supporting rod providing rotary movement of the shell about an axis transverse to the length of the rod, gravity actuating means to actuate said shell, and means provided upon said shell co-acting therewith to define an opening through which the rod extends, opposite wall parts oi said opening constituting stops to limit movement of the shell in opposite directions about said axis.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ALEXANDER KONOFF. 

